A Pre-1967 Process
It took almost thirty-four years, but yet again President Obama has gone where previous US administrations would not. By supporting Israeli and Palestinian borders pre-1967, meaning an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the strongest arm to Israeli power is finally undermined. With the strongest superpower in the world officially no longer supporting the consequences of six days in June 1967, Israel is now officially in the same book as Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia and the like, with foreign countries pouring scorn over policies that flout international law. Although international opposition has always been loud, this is the strongest statement of it to date. Nevertheless, despite the commendation that should be awarded to the US for such a move, there is a block in the way of such geo-border time-travel: Benjamin Netanyahu.
When Prime Minister Netanyahu assumed office in 2009, numerous opportunities for working with the most progressive US President on the Israel-Palestine issue have been missed. As Mr. Netanyahu has supported settlement in the West Bank, this is not something that has been out of his hands. In March 2010 he approved construction of 1,600 apartments in a housing development in northeastern Jerusalem, despite large international condemnation, particularly from the US, EU, UN and Russia. Despite implementing a ten-month freeze on building new settlements due to pressure from the US, Israeli Daily Haaretz reported that the freeze had little effect, and new construction began as soon as the freeze ended. And now, in reaction to Obama’s speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu has acted, in the words of the New York Times, “icily. In a statement released by his office… he referred to promises made by President Bush in 2004 — and supported by members of Congress — that Israel would not have to withdraw to the 1967 borders, which he said would be ‘indefensible’ and leave large numbers of Israelis outside Israeli territory”. Like the oppressive ‘security’ wall built along the Israeli–West Bank border, such actions have been more than an obstacle to the peace-process.
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